Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. wanted by Warner Bros. for ‘El Presidente’?

Warner Bros. reportedly wants both stars for the comedy film El Presidente to be directed by Jay Roach (who directed Austin Powers, Meet the Parents, Recount, HBO’s Game Change and this summer’s The Campaign starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis).

The studio wants Cruise to play an “overzealous Secret Service agent whose work-life boundary issues” gets him punished by being assigned to guard “America’s worst former president, who is a bumbling sleaze,” a role to be offered to Downey Jr.

The story and script is written by Parks and Recreation’s Dan Goor, who had also written for The Daily Show and Conan O’Brien in the past.

(Source: Vulture)

Robert Downey Jr. to Star in Davin Dobkin’s Dramedy THE JUDGE?

by Brendan Bettinger

We last heard about The Judge a year ago when David Seidler, basking in the glow of his Oscar win for The King’s Speech, signed on to rewrite the dramedy. David Dobkin (The Change-Up) is set to direct and produce alongside Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey.

In a report on Bill Dubuque coming in to do another rewrite, Deadline mentions that The Judge is now planned as a starring vehicle for Downey. The story, originally scripted by Nick Schenk (Gran Torino), centers on an attorney who returns home for his mother’s funeral. He learns that his estranged father, a judge who suffers from Alzheimer’s, is suspected of murder.

Downey will film Iron Man 3 in a few weeks on the heels of the May 4 release of The Avengers. After that, there’s a long list of projects the actor is attached to, including Tim Burton’s Pinocchio, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice, and the Perry Mason reboot. It seems unlikely The Judge will shoot to the top of the list, and Dobkin’s immediate focus is on Arthur & Lancelot.  But it could be a nice change of pace if and when Downey seeks a smaller production among these giant superhero tentpoles. I’d nudge him toward Inherent Vice if I had a vote.

(Source: Collider)

RDJ Mini News Round-Up:

• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has earned $325M internationally ($3M this weekend). Its global total stands at $509M (vs. $524M for the first Sherlock Holmes film).  It has yet to open in Japan (will be released on March 10).
• Marc Guggenheim has been signed to write the script for the upcoming Perry Mason film adaptation, which will be produced by Warner Bros. and Team Downey. It has not been announced if Robert will actually star in it.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter - 1 | 2)

Iron Man 3 To Begin Shooting Sooner Than Expected

Multiple sources have told ComicBook.com that shooting for Iron Man 3 will begin prior to The Avengers hitting theaters May 4th, weeks ahead of previously published dates.

The film is scheduled to be shot in Wilmington, NC at the EUE/Screen Gems Studios and is believed to be the largest production ever to be filmed in North Carolina.

Previous reports have listed late May as the official production start date, but one source close to the North Carolina operations said that Marvel “will have staff in Wilmington as early as mid-March, with shooting scheduled to begin the last week of April or the first week of May.”

(Source: Comicbook.com)

Robert Downey Jr. Talks PINOCCHIO and Says IRON MAN 3 Could Be “The Best of the Three”

Given Robert Downey Jr.‘s status as one of our biggest movie stars, I was surprised to see he only has two film officially slated over the next couple years, The Avengers and Iron Man 3. I don’t know how long that will stick, though, since he’s been connected to a dozen or so projects. A flashy possibility surfaced last week: a new version of Pinocchio directed by Tim Burton, starring Downey as Gepetto.

At the Brazilian premiere of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Downey confirmed his interest in the project to our partners at Omelete:

“I want to talk to him about it, yeah! C’mon, it’s Tim Burton.”

In the interview, Downey also talked about his excitement about re-teaming with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang director Shane Black on Iron Man 3, suggesting it has the potential to be “one of the better superhero movies that’s ever been made.” Hit the jump for the quote and the clip. Here’s that Iron Man quote:

“I think that we have an opportunity with the third Iron Man to make the best of the three, and maybe one of the better superhero movies that’s ever been made. But I think we have to remember what made the first one good. It was very character-driven. It was very odd. It was kind of outrageous. And so I think we have to have the courage to trust that the audience is really kind of cool, and smart.”

With The Avengers in the can and the impending Iron Man 3 shoot, Downey is in a very Tony Stark state of mind right now, so it’s good to hear his enthusiasm about the character. I hope he finds time for another, non-superhero role soon though. Maybe something smaller. Maybe something that doesn’t involve Tim Burton. Iron Man 3 is scheduled for release on May 3, 2013.

(Source: Collider; watch interview here)

Warner Bros., Tim Burton Courting Robert Downey Jr. to Star in Live-Action ‘Pinocchio’

Tim Burton’s interest in tackling a live-action version of Pinocchio is heating up, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. And Burton’s choice to topline the movie is Robert Downey Jr. as Geppetto, the woodcarver who creates the puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy.

In the version being developed at Warner Bros., Geppetto embarks on a quest to reunite with his missing marionette.

The well-regarded script is by Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller. Dan Jinks (American Beauty) is producing.

Neither Burton nor Downey has a deal with Warners, but sources say Burton is keen to direct the film and has begun talks with the studio, so it’s just a question of whether Pinocchio will be his next movie. The Alice in Wonderland director also is eyeing an adaptation of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children at Fox, among other projects. Warners wants to move quickly with Pinocchio, so if Burton chooses to make another movie first, the studio might move on to other directors.

According to two well-placed sources, Downey has expressed serious interest in the project (and in working with Burton), but his busy schedule must still be worked out. Warner Bros. is hoping that Burton and Downey commit soon so the project can be fast-tracked.

(read the full article at the source)

(Source: Hollywood Reporter)

Robert Downey Jr. Says Paul Thomas Anderson Collaboration Is ‘Probably True’

Although Robert Downey Jr. has been all about the superhero action star spectacle films recently, we can’t forget that his body of work pre-“Iron Man” involved a virtual smorgasbord of characters in a lot of quieter think pieces, TV dramedies and quirky indies.

Therefore when the news broke earlier this year that Downey Jr. and director Paul Thomas Anderson might be working together on a big screen adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice,” it seemed like a perfect fit for moviemaking magic.

Anyway, when MTV News caught up with the man in question at the press day for “Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows” recently, we asked him if the report about “Inherent Vice” was fact or fiction.

“Anything to do with Paul Thomas Anderson and I doing a movie together is probably true,” Downey Jr. said. “We tend to talk about a variety of potential projects, and Thomas Pynchon’s ‘Inherent Vice’ could be great, we’ll see.”

We mentioned the fact that we have hope for the pairing, despite the fact that the in-demand actor seems to be constantly booked.

“I feel like I’m booked but I’m not. I make space for what I want to do,” he said, adding that what he enjoys most about Anderson is the fact that he’s talented and just darn likeable. “I just think he’s one of our great American directors, I just like hanging out with the guy.”

“Inherent Vice” is set in the swingin’ ’60s and Downey was rumored to play Larry “Doc” Sportello, an L.A.-based private eye who takes on a case involving an ex-girlfriend, her real estate billionaire boyfriend and a kidnapping.

(Source: MTV News)

Shane Black Q&A at Long Beach Comic Con (10/29/2011)

• Directing and writing IM3: Black was initially supposed to write and direct Iron Man 3, and was surprised when he found out that Drew Pearce was writing instead.
• On Drew Pearce: “All of a sudden I’m reading the paper and it’s like, Drew Pearce writing Iron Man! I went to work and said, ‘You guys, he’s British for Christ’s sakes! But what happened was this great collaboration and friendship with this great, lovely British writer.”
• On IM3’s villain: “That’s the problem, isn’t it? Iron Man never really had good villains.”  He called Mandarin, one of the main villains in Iron Man, “a racist caricature.” He will not reveal or share any detail as to who the villain might be.
• Black promises “bold choices, multiple payoffs, and reversals”.
• Says he will not rule out setting Iron Man 3 during Christmas.
• Iron Man 3 and The Avengers: Iron Man 3 will not involve the Avengers and will focus squarely on Tony Stark.  “We really want to make it Tony’s movie,” says Black.
• Other returning cast: Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle will be back. Stan Lee will have a cameo. Black has requested for Jon Favreau to return as Happy.
• On Robert: “Tony is so indelibly Robert.  Robert and I share a voice … if I leave a line open, he’ll supply the ending because we both tend to go to the same place with our characters.”
• On Iron Man 2: Black says the film was poorly-received critically in spite of being a commercial success because it made a lot of “half choices,” Stark was not “proactive” in the film, and the high stakes were not emphasized (“the middle of the movie is Tony Stark sitting around his house!”)

(Source: Comic Book Resources)

OFFICIAL: Iron Man 3 to shoot in North Carolina

The third installment of Marvel Studios’ Iron Man franchise is setting up shop in North Carolina. EUE/Screen Gems and North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue announced in a press conference Thursday that the studios’ Wilmington outpost will host the bulk of the film’s production …

Iron Man 3 marks the largest production to come to Wilmington, which has previously hosted films such as I Know What You Did Last Summer and 28 Days and the television series Dawson’s Creek.

(Source: Hollywood Reporter)

Note: Production starts in “early 2012” and rumored to last for ten months. RDJ has said in an interview that he starts shooting IM3 in summer 2012.